Today is the seventeenth of the month, and so this is my monthly "A Day in the Life" post for February. I wish to start with "A Day in the Life" for yesterday, the sixteenth, since what happened yesterday had a huge impact on my lessons for today.
8:00 -- A meeting for Math I was called yesterday by -- who else -- the TOSA for Math I. He arranged for this meeting to last a half-day -- period subs ended up covering our first two classes. (This is the meeting I alluded to in my last post.)
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss Chapter 6 of the CPM text, on systems of equations. But recall that we're supposed to be emphasizing Stats more this year -- and so the TOSA decided that we should incorporate data analysis into the current chapter on solving systems.
In fact, the chapter is supposed to culminate with another project. But unlike previous projects where I kept leeching off my neighbor teachers for implementation ideas, this time the TOSA asked each of us to come up with our own plan for a project that involves data and systems of equations.
Suddenly put on the spot, I couldn't think of any good ones. Two of the other Math I teachers came up with some sports-related ideas, including one based on LeBron James and his recent pursuit of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record (which goes along with the Steph Curry project in Chapter 4). But of course, I couldn't just steal that teacher's idea.
Then the TOSA suggested that I look at a Financial Algebra text. (Our school is considering having a Financial Math class next year, but it's OK for me to use it now.) He showed me the following link:
https://www.ngpf.org/math/financial-algebra/
Unit 3 of this text is called "Saving & Systems of Equations," so he told me to look there. In Lesson 3.5, I found a rather interesting graph comparing income earned vs. net income and expenses. The income levels are divided into bins of unequal size (less than $15K, $15-30K, $30-40K, $40-50K, and so on), and so it's not completely logical. (For example, it shows that someone making $50K has a take-home pay of over $50K, since that value refers to the entire bin $50-70K and not just $50K.)
Still, both take-home pay and expenses can be approximated by a linear equation (in other words, a line of best fit), where x is the income earned and y is take-home pay or expenses. They form a system of equations whose solution indicates where income equals expenses. (From the graph, this appears to be somewhere in the $50-70K bin).
I'm not the only Math I teacher to do a finance-related lesson for this chapter. One of my neighbor teachers will give an activity on paying fines that she found online. Considering that this is written as a three-act lesson, the idea behind this lesson ultimately goes back to Dan Meyer (a name familiar to most MTBoS members, as this is a MTBoS-labeled blogpost).
It will take some work for me to make this into a coherent unit. Still, the TOSA told us to return to this underlying idea several times during the lesson, until we finally end Chapter 6 with the project where the students solve the implied system of equations.
11:45 -- The meeting ended and fifth period arrived (as Thursday's block schedule went 1-2-5-6). This was my lone Math III class of the day.
I sang "Benchmark Tests" to this class and had this class begin working on -- well, their Benchmark Tests from the district. (This explains why I mentioned "Benchmark Tests" in yesterday's post.)
1:15 -- Fifth period left for lunch.
2:05 -- Sixth period arrived. This was my lone Math I class of the day.
I sang "Sequence Tests" to this class and had this class begin working on -- well, their Chapter 5 Test, on which they must test sequences (to see whether they are arithmetic or geometric).
3:30 -- Sixth period left, thus completing my day.
OK, so that's "A Day in the Life" for yesterday. Now let's do today:
7:40 -- Friday (and Monday) mornings before school are for meetings. Today's meeting is a "CT2" meeting, where "CT" stands for "curriculum team" and "2" stands for the secondary class that we teach, as opposed to our primary class.
Logically speaking, since I teach three sections of Math I and two sections of Math III, Math I should be my CT1 and Math III my CT2. But the Math III leader teaches a zero period class, and so he usually holds only CT1 morning meetings but not CT2 meetings.
Thus I've decided that Math III is my CT1 and Math I my CT2, so I can attend both meetings. In other words, this morning I attend yet another meeting to discuss Math I after yesterday's half-day workshop.
For this meeting, the lead Math I teacher and the TOSA decide on a pacing plan for Chapter 6. They tell us that today is the first day of the chapter, and it should be mainly a "hook" to introduce the underlying activity that each of us chooses for the chapter.
For me, a hook is straightforward, since Lesson 3.5 of the Financial Algebra text linked above already has a hook of sorts. I copy the first page of the lesson and plan to hand it out to each Math I class.
This is to be followed by lessons on solving systems (graphically, elimination, as you'd expect), and then ending with the test and the project. Chapter 6 should take us all the way up to spring break (to be followed by the Geometry chapter I'm looking forward to the most, Chapter 7).
8:30 -- The meeting ends and first period arrives. This is the first of two Math III classes.
A few students who were absent yesterday finish their Benchmarks today. (This is one reason that I gave the Math III Benchmarks yesterday -- it gave my students something to do on the sub day without having to lose a lesson.) The rest of the students move on to Section 8.1.3 of the CPM text, which is on finding equations giving the roots.
I mainly show the students some DeltaMath problems. There are three levels of quadratic equations in standard form that the students must find -- at the first level both roots are rational, at the second both roots are irrational but real, and at the third both roots are imaginary.
The Warm-Up question is a review from an earlier lesson. The students must likewise find an equation, but they are given a graph. The equation is cubic, but they get to leave the answer in factored form.
For the Exit Pass, the students must find the quadratic equation with roots 4 + i -- and I spot them most of the equation, x^2 - 8x + _____ = 0. The missing constant term is the product of the roots, which works out to be 17 -- and of course, today's date is the seventeenth.
9:25 -- First period leaves for nutrition.
9:40 -- Second period arrives. This is the first of three Math I classes.
Yesterday -- as often happens when a regular teacher is asked to cover a class during prep period -- the teacher took my class to his own room. (This is another reason why I gave the test yesterday -- if I'd instead given the kids a regular assignment, say with a page for them to glue into their notebooks -- that stack would have been left untouched in my own room.)
Unfortunately, when I look at the DeltaMath grades, it appears that a whopping dozen students decided not to take the test at all today -- they probably just opened DeltaMath and then pretended to work while playing on phones or who knows what else? You might question my wisdom of assigning a high stakes 50-point test on a sub day -- but notice that if the freshmen won't even work on a test worth such a large part of their grade, how much less likely are they to work on a regular assignment (even if it's computer-based, like Desmos)?
Today is the second day of the week on the Eleven Calendar. (In previous posts, I sometimes referred to the second day as "Saturday" and intend to be a replacement for the Jewish Sabbath.)
Resolution #2: We avoid arguing in the classroom.
And you can figure out why I'm mentioning this resolution at this point in my post -- the kids turn my confrontation of yesterday's lazy students into an argument, and they start throwing glue sticks, scissors, and other objects around the room. (The correct purpose of the glue and scissors, of course, is to glue the Chapter 6 title page and hook into their interactive notebooks.)
So I make every effort to respond to this act without arguing. I immediately add six extra questions to the DeltaMath homework assignment -- one for each object that was thrown. And I add that if I ever find out who exactly is throwing the objects, a major disciplinary report will be sent to the office.
10:35 -- Second period leaves and third period conference begins. There's actually something that's been going on recently during my prep period on Fridays (which I haven't mentioned on the blog until now, since I rarely post on Fridays).
In my fifth period Math III class, there are two Spanish-speaking students who are bright in math, but often have trouble understanding me in English. They have a relationship with one of their previous math teachers -- she's a Math I teacher who speaks Spanish, but is rusty with Math III material.
And so, since we have the same conference period, we've decided to hold weekly tutoring meetings in the other teacher's classroom -- both of us teachers, my two students, and another student who has a different Math III teacher but can use the extra tutoring as well. (Yes, this is why I was so eager to meet my "prep period buddy" earlier this week -- I wanted to set up today's tutoring session. She jokes that this has become our "CT3" meeting.)
Unfortunately, today's meeting doesn't go as well as I hoped. Only one of my two students is able to get a note from his third period teacher to attend today, plus the guy from the other Math III class. (My other student, a girl, is out for an entire week.)
And since the last Math III lesson (before Benchmarks) was on graphing polynomials, I was hoping to set up DeltaMath on the Promethean boards in her classroom so they can graph them directly onto the computer (as I was struggling to do so in my classes earlier this week). But the Internet didn't work in her classroom, so we couldn't access DeltaMath.
Since the Wi-Fi issues were local to her classroom, perhaps I should have asked the group to move over to my own room for today's session. Instead, I had the students work on the whiteboard (an impromptu VNPS of sorts) -- I gave the two guys equations such as f (x) = (x + 2)(x - 1)^2 and asked the pair to find the x- and y-intercepts before we drew the rest of the graphs together.
So even though this isn't the best of sessions, at least you know now what I've been doing during my conference period on Fridays (ever since the first semester final exam).
11:40 -- Fourth period arrives. This is the second of three Math I classes.
All fourth period classes have been asked to give a PowerPoint presentation today on the upcoming visit from the WASC committee. For those of you outside of California (or "the West," as WASC stands for "Western Association of Schools and Colleges"), every high school must have its accreditation renewed every three to six years, or else its diplomas won't be recognized by outside organizations, such as colleges. Our school is in fact overdue for its WASC visit due to the pandemic.
In short, the students learn that they must be on their best behavior during the WASC visit (which is two and a half weeks away), and that they must know something if a WASC committee member visits the classroom and asks them a question (such as "What are you learning now?").
Of all my Math I classes, fourth period is the best behaved by far, so they shouldn't be a problem if WASC visits this class. My other Math I classes are a different matter.
I immediately follow up the WASC PowerPoint with a two-minute video on saving money -- the hook for the Chapter 6 project. (I won't link to the video here -- instead, follow the NGPF link above to Lesson 3.5 and you can find the entire lesson, including the video and graphs, right there.)
12:40 -- Fourth period leaves for lunch.
1:25 -- Fifth period arrives. This is the second of two Math III classes.
1:30 -- A lockdown drill begins. Yes, lockdown drills are now a regular occurrence -- and I assume this one is scheduled due to all the recent mass shootings in the news.
1:50 -- The lockdown drill ends. Assuming in advance that the students would be distracted during the drill, I leave the Warm-Up on the board during the entire drill and don't start the main lesson until after it concludes.
2:20 -- Fifth period leaves and sixth period arrives. This is the third of three Math I classes.
Sometimes sixth period behaves just as poorly as second -- in fact, I had to submit a major disciplinary report form earlier this week for someone who threw objects in sixth period (a sock one day, and then an empty water gun and water bottle the next day).
Fortunately, today this class is much better-behaved. We get through the introductory Chapter 6 lesson without too many problems.
3:20 -- Sixth period leaves, thus concluding my day.
Wow -- today just happens to be such a jam-packed day, with things going on almost every period. Still, this is when I usually post my monthly reflection. Monday is Presidents' Day -- the last holiday of the "holiday stretch." Next week is the start of the Big March -- or is it?
On one hand, spring break is one week later than last year (in order to include Cesar Chavez Day). Last year I wrote that four weeks isn't long enough to be considered a "Big March," but with five weeks this year, it will feel more like a true Big March.
On the other hand, it won't be five weeks without a day off for our students. As I wrote in a previous post, there will be a teacher day when students won't have to attend. For us teachers it will feel like a Big March, but not as much for our students.
On the third hand, I've now declared that the Big March is now a permanent part of the school calendar (along with the Willis Unit and DEVOLSON), and it refers to the stretch between Prez Day and spring break, no matter how many weeks it is or whether there's a teacher day. Therefore, next week really is the start of the Big March.
I often write that the most difficult chapter of the year seems to be taught during the Big March. In many ways, Chapter 6 -- which will span the entire Big March -- will be hard for my Math I kids. Many of them struggled with solving equations in Chapter 1 and graphing lines in Chapter 2 -- and now Chapter 6 will ask the students to do both of those. And now we're adding in Stats from Chapter 4, and many of them had trouble there too.
Meanwhile in Math III, Chapter 8, our Big March chapter, is on polynomials. While polynomials can be difficult for some students, it's not necessarily worse than Chapter 7, where logs, sines, and cosines served to confuse the class.
That being said, will I sing my "Big March" song on Tuesday? That will be revealed in Tuesday's post, my first post of the Big March after the Presidents' Day holiday.
(And yes, I will actually be posting during the Big March this year, since I want to post the songs that I'll be performing during that stretch of the year.)
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